Out of the Silent Planet

Out of the Silent Planet is the first novel of the Cosmic Trilogy, considered to be C.S. Lewis' chief contribution to the science fiction genre.

Original, complex, not middle of the road

Written in the 30's and poor science fiction [SF] (some of the science in it is wrong even by the knowledge of Lewis's day), this novel is incredible ..Show More »in imaginative detail and original concepts as well as in conveying real wonder, not just sense of wonder. The characters are fully realized (his hero even has some beliefs and attitudes he disagreed with) although having some cliche aspects, an intentional tool Lewis used in emphasizing the story's theme of GOOD against evil.

Not for anti-Christians although open minded atheists could enjoy it; Lewis fills the story with theology, spirituality, and deep philosophical considerations that point toward a God without being preachy - it's just from a spiritual perspective. Principles of morality, ethics, and honesty are a major componant of the story. Yes it's a simple plot as most good vs evil stories are. But he plays great games with fun aliens (giving each species its own characterization), plausible plantary environments, and weird (sometimes too weird) alien vegetation.

While the author is doing all of this, he finds time to give other SF writers lessons on how to deal with characters encountering alien languages - his protagonist is a philologist, a scientist of language. He makes learning a language seem easy and even fun. As for sociology, he put more detail into the aliens' cultures in this novel in 1937 than was to be found in most of the SF field of the day.

Not perfect in any respect, yet it is more original than the vast majority of SF published before or since. Some SF from recent decades improves on many of the science fictional aspects, but Lewis's spiritual/philosophical approach provides a distinctive point of view that hasn't been seen since his trilogy.

The following books get even better while more cliched in the theological aspects. The third book is a major work of fantasy while couched in SF terms. If Audible ever gets them, they are worth checking out.

Perelandra

Perelandra is a planet of pleasure, an unearthly, misty world of strange desires, sweet smells, and delicious tastes, where beasts are friendly and naked beauty is unashamed, a new Garden of Eden, where the story of the oldest temptation is enacted in an intriguingly new way.

An Insightful Look at the Nature of Temptation

In contrast to the scoring by other reviewers, I felt that this was the strongest book in what is commonly known as "The Space Trilogy". Lewis' exami..Show More »nation of the nature of temptation is truly fascinating as we consider how someone who may not fully realize the ramifications of disobedience can be easily misled by a clever tempter.

One of the strongest images that remains with me after listening to this book is the portrayal of Satan. One comes away with a greater understand of the hideous joy he derives from torturing, deceiving and harming creation after reading some rather grotesque scenes within the book.

Although the book does start slow (which is the case in all 3 books in the trilogy), it is a VERY worthy read and has become one of my favorites among Lewis' works of fiction. IMHO it ranks up there with "The Great Divorce" as one of Lewis' best.

That Hideous Strength

In this, the final book in C.S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which includes Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, That Hideous Strength concludes the adventures of the matchless Dr. Ransom.

Cloning, stem cell research, psycho-chemistry.

Maybe you're all for human cloning and pushing the scientific exploitation of man as resource. You won't like this book. Lewis paints the future bleak..Show More » where man is just another hunk of meat to use for some purpose. Where ever you are on the argument, you might want to read this as a pretty good exposition of the negatives that could be inherent in perceiving man as just another pile of stuff to bend to the will of... Well, that's it, isn't it. Who, exactly, gets to call the shots? Lewis achieves better narrative drive in this, the last volume of the Space Trilogy. It really does work as a pretty good thriller.